Between the big AAA releases, I often search for a relaxing and short indie title to play. Nippets, a hidden object puzzle game, from developer and publisher, Blink Industries and multiple talented collaborators is just the game. It instantly reminds you of sitting down as a kid with the picture book Where's Wally? book or Where's Waldo? in other parts of the world, and searching every nook and cranny for his red and white striped jumper, and then, noticing all the other familiar characters hidden on each page.

Fishbowl is an indie, visual novel game and the first video game from I Miss My Friends Studio; a developer duo of Rhea Gupte and Prateek Saxena who decided to make a video game influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic and other life events. It presents the possibility of being emotionally resonant with everyone due to our shared experience during the pandemic and topic such as depression, self-doubt and cancer.

After spending countless hours as a teenager one hundred percenting the original Super Meat Boy, I was initially hesitant when I heard the announcement of a 3D reimagining of my favourite brutal platformer. It seemed like an impossible task to translate such finely tuned level design into a new perspective.

Since their rise in the 2010's, cinematic puzzle-platformers have become an unexpected favourite genre of mine in video games. Often shorter experiences; perfect vessels for emotional and atmospheric games that attempt to synchronise gameplay and story. With the likes of Limbo, Inside, and recently, Reanimal, using the genre for darker horrors, Planet of Lana 2 is a welcome continuation in the beautiful and colourful sci-fi world, Novo, created in the original.

2026 feels like another rejuvenation cycle for 3D platformers, as indie developers continue to use their inspirations to invent new takes on the genre. In the late 90s we had Super Mario 64 and Crash Bandicoot, and the early to mid 2000s, Ratchet and Clank, and Jak and Daxter. Whereas, the last two decades gifted us Super Mario Odyssey and Donkey Kong Bananza. But the continued renaissance in the boundary pushing indie scene is what's impressed me. First, we had the excellent Big Hops, and now, Demon Tides.